The Cistercian Abbey of Zbraslav (, , ) located in

Zbraslav Zbraslav (; ; Latin ''Aula Regia'') is a municipal district and cadastral area of Prague. The southernmost district of Prague, it lies on the Vltava River in the national administrative district of Prague 16. The former independent municipal ...

near

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

(today part of Prague) was one of the most significant

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

of the

Cistercian Order The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

in the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a History of the Czech lands in the High Middle Ages, medieval and History of the Czech lands, early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the pr ...

(present-day

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

). Founded by King

Wenceslaus II of Bohemia Wenceslaus II Přemyslid (; ; 27 SeptemberK. Charvátová, ''Václav II. Král český a polský'', Prague 2007, p. 18. 1271 – 21 June 1305) was King of Bohemia (1278–1305), Duke of Cracow (1291–1305), and King of Poland (1296–130 ...

in 1292 it became the royal

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

of the last members of the

Přemyslid dynasty The Přemyslid dynasty or House of Přemysl (, , ) was a Bohemian royal dynasty that reigned in the Duchy of Bohemia and later Kingdom of Bohemia and Margraviate of Moravia (9th century–1306), as well as in parts of Poland (including Silesia ...

. The abbey was abolished by the Bohemian King and Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...

in 1789. The best-known

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of this monastery was Peter of Zittau († 1339) who wrote the ''

Zbraslav Chronicle ''Zbraslav Chronicle'' (also ''Chronicle of Zbraslav'' or ''Chronicon Aulae Regiae'') is the work of two abbots of the Zbraslav Monastery, Cistercian monastery of Zbraslav (Aula Regia), Otto of Thuringia and Peter of Zittau. It was written in Lati ...

'' (), the most important historical source for the history of

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

in the first half of the 14th century. The Zbraslav abbey is also known for the

Madonna of Zbraslav The Zbraslav Madonna (c. 1360) comes from the parish church of St James the Greater in Zbraslav.Royt 2003, p.62 It is on long-term loan at the permanent exhibition of the National Gallery in Prague. History of the painting The Cistercians, Cist ...

, an outstanding Gothic painting from the 1340s.

References

Cistercian monasteries in the Czech Republic Baroque architecture in Prague Baroque monasteries Christian monasteries in Prague Burial sites of the House of Přemysl National cultural monuments of the Czech Republic {{catholic-monastery-stub

See also

References